News

The rise of a new generation of influencers – a computer generated generation

Virtual influencers are not the result of the current COVID-19 climate; they were trending long before that. However that being said, while humans are quite literally locked up in lockdown, the same limitations cannot be placed on influencers that are computer generated. Imma and Seraphine are two such influencers, but how do they qualify as influencers if they are not human? Imma is Japan’s first virtual model and was created by the company AWW. Like any influencer, Imma’s social media following across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Weibo, Zepeto and Douyin is impressive and substantial. Imma’s online presence is not limited to social media however, […]

A careful Christmas as the world waits on a vaccine

Christmas or the festive season this year is going to look very different across the globe with many families separated by COVID-19 prevention measures such as country-specific lockdowns, travel restrictions and strict social distancing policies and policing in place. This comes as major blow for many people who were hoping to be able to spend the holidays with their loved ones. However, with the resurgences of infections across the world, essential limitations have been applied and local or international travel between countries that are deemed hot spots is no longer viable. This is applicable in South Africa too. With COVID-19 showing no signs of slowing down at […]

Faking it – how to tell if news is real or fake

Fake news is everywhere, and that’s truly a bit scary. But what does that even mean and with today’s information overload – how on earth can we tell the real from the fake? With most of us being inundated with varying forms of news and information from a variety of sources continuously, it can be really hard to discern the real from the fake, and sometimes even harder to resist the temptation to unknowingly share that fake information. Social media makes this particularly easy, and certainly increases the likelihood of us being exposed to fake news as it provides a much quicker and easier channel […]

Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!

16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) is an international campaign instituted by the United Nations which promotes activities that drive activism and awareness around gender based violence from the 25^th of November to the 10^th of December every year. Each year a specific theme is assigned to the 16 day period. This year the global theme is “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!” The annual 16 Days of Activism campaign was first started by activists at the 1991 inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute and has subsequently been organised annually by the Women’s Global Leadership Centre.

As part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign, the United Nations […]

The long and the short of COVID-19

Covid-19 appears to be the gift that keeps on giving – as the origin of a global pandemic that’s fast approaching its one year anniversary in December; there is still so much we have yet to come to grips with when it comes to the virus. While we are now well-aware of most of the common symptoms and after-effects of the virus as they have been widely documented, published and circulated as part of the on-going global efforts to curb the spread of the virus through preventative practices and social distancing, there is still a lot that we don’t know about the virus and what the long-term ramifications or effects […]

Africa’s becoming home of the tech-hub

Africa has become a tech-hub magnet in the past decade with an emerging and innovative tech market beginning to play a particularly prominent role in the entrepreneurial space too. In 2019 alone, the number of tech hubs across Africa increased by nearly 50% to approximately 640 tech-hubs, therefore cementing themselves as significant sources of business incubation and resource creation. In 2019 Nigeria dominated the tech-hub space, followed closely by South Africa – both are some of the largest economical contributors on the continent. With this as an indicator, Africa has been tapped as the “fastest growing continent for developers globally”, something that software giant  Microsoft has picked up on and is […]

Future females becoming females present

Kamala Harris made history on the 7^th of November 2020 when she was elected as America’s first female Vice President. Not only is Kamala Harris to be the first woman to hold the title of Vice President in the United States, but she is also the first African and Southern-Asian American to do so. America’s political history has long been dominated by white males, with Barack Obama being the first to break the mould as the first African-American president of the United States. Obama served as the 44^th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017, and was succeeded by one of America’s most controversial presidents – Donald Trump.

President-elect Joe Biden […]

Making Uber sure that you wear your mask

A Decade of Instagram

Herd immunity vs. herd mentality – which one will trump COVID-19?